Athens was the setting this year for the biggest club event on the Table Football calendar.
The plane touched down in sunny Greece on the Thursday evening, giving us Friday to relax and do some sight-seeing. The rooftop pool, 20 storeys up, was a welcome oasis, away from the busy city below. It also offered a magnificent view over Athens, above the numerous high-rise buildings to the surrounding hills, including the famous Acropolis Hill. 16 euros got us a taxi from the city centre to the Acropolis entrance and a further 12 euros enabled us to access the ancient temple and amphitheatre ruins on the way to the Parthenon at the top.
On the way back, we used bus and metro for the grand sum of 1.3 euros (much better value than the taxi!) and called at the tournament venue to witness the draw. Yorkshire were drawn in Group C with Perugia, Atlas, Stembert, Kaisermuhlen & Rain. No easy groups at this level but if we improved on last year's one-from-last position and finished above UK rivals, Cardiff, we would be happy!
Friday evening, the Yorkshire contingent enjoyed a feast in TGI Friday's, plotting our damage-limitation strategy over salmon steaks and Death-by-chocolate!
It was an early night for all, including Mr. Ouzo.
Day 1
As expected, there was little difference between Yorkshire & Rain, who drew 2-2 and occupied the bottom two places in the group. The top four teams qualified for the last 16 to be played on Day 2, when Yorkshire & Rain would join the six eliminated teams from the other groups to play for positions 17-24.
In the evening, it was off to TGI Fridays again. Mr Ouzo had been taking it easy up to now but was starting to let go, announcing 'I love you' to the surprised waitress when ordering a similarly named cocktail.
Day 2
Down to the nitty-gritty in the main event, the higher tension of the knock-out phases was signified by boisterous, adrenaline-fuelled celebrations ... ALLEZ! ... GOAL!!! ... SIIIIII!!! ... OUI!!! ... JA!!! ... SAMBA!!! Even a half-lap of honour when Spyros Hantzaros scored a golden goal for Roligans, leaving the watching crowd rolling with laughter as his jubilant team-mates chased after him to congratulate!
Meanwhile, in the lower play-offs, Yorkshire and Cardiff were paired in the same group and scheduled to play each other last. The scene couldn't have been set any better.
Although the match was insignificant to the rest of the tournament, there was a lot of pride at stake for the members of the two clubs, accompanied by the usual pre-match hype and banter.
The fixtures were:
Beggs v Dacey, Lawrenson v Koutsompinas, Hodds v Bryan, McIlroy v D.Lauder
Once the flicking began, the banter was replaced by extreme concentration and a very tense first half produced no goals in any of the four fixtures. Following the half-time team-talks, the action resumed with the same caution as before until eventually, midway through the 2nd Half, the deadlock was broken when Beggs took the lead against Dacey. His cheer of delight spurred on his team-mates but the lead was short-lived, as Dacey equalised one minute later. All square again but the play was more urgent now as both teams pressed for the possible winning goal ...
With only a few minutes remaining, a triumphant shout of 'MERFOX' resounded from Paul Lawrenson as he netted against Cardiff's Greek player, Koutsompinas. Victory was in sight for Yorkshire - they just had to keep it tight on all tables for the remainder of the game. They held on successfully, leaving the dejected Cardiff players to look on in disbelief as the 'Yorkies' celebrated at the final whistle. It was irrelevant that Italian club, Pisa, went on to be crowned Champions - the 'Battle of Britain' had been won, Yorkshire had finished higher than last year and condemned Cardiff to last place in the process! Mission accomplished!
Needless to say, the post-match celebrations continued well into the night. Mr Ouzo had a few too many and missed the plane home the next day - but it did not detract from a thoroughly enjoyable trip!
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